s of
continued efforts to hurl back the Arabs of Spain beyond the Ebro, to
extend to that river the dominion of the Franks, to divert to that end
the forces as well as the feelings of the populations of Southern Gaul,
and thus to pursue, in the South as in the North, against the Arabs as
well as against the Saxons and Huns, the grand design, of Charlemagne,
which was the repression of foreign invasions and the triumph of
Christian France over Asiatic paganism and Islamism.

Although continually obliged to watch, and often still to fight,
Charlemagne might well believe that he had nearly gained his end. He had
everywhere greatly extended the frontiers of the Frankish dominions and
subjugated the populations comprised in his conquests. He had proved
that his new frontiers would be vigorously defended against new
invasions or dangerous neighbors. He had pursued the Huns and the
Slavons to the confines of the Empire of the East, and the Saracens to
the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. The centre of the dominion was no
longer in ancient Gaul; he had transferred it to a point not far from
the Rhine, in the midst and within reach of the Germanic populations, at
the town of Aix-la-Chapelle, which he had founded, and which was his
favorite residence; but the principal parts of the Gallo-Frankish
kingdom, Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy, were effectually welded in
one single mass. What he had done with Southern Gaul has just been
pointed out; how he had both separated it from his own kingdom, and
still retained it under his control. Two expeditions into Armorica,
without taking entirely from the Britons their independence, had taught
them real deference, and the great warrior Roland, installed as count
upon their frontier, warned them of the peril any rising would
encounter. The moral influence of Charlemagne was on a par with his
material power; he had everywhere protected the missionaries of
Christianity; he had twice entered Rome, also in the character of
protector, and he could count on the faithful support of the Pope at
least as much as the Pope could count on him. He had received embassies
and presents from the sovereigns of the East, Christian and Mussulman,
from the emperors of Constantinople and the caliphs of Bagdad.
Everywhere, in Europe, in Africa, and in Asia, he was feared and
respected by kings and people. Such, at the close of the eighth century,
were, so far as he was concerned, the results of his wars, of the